Teacher center deserves state funding

The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching got new life last week. House members must continue their fight to see it remains in the final state budget.

NCCAT provides professional development for teachers at its main campus, across State Road 107 from Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, and at a branch campus in a former U.S. Coast Guard station on Ocracoke Island.

"Increasing teacher effectiveness is fundamental to improving public education," according to the mission statement. "NCCAT provides teachers with new knowledge, skills, teaching methods, best practices and information to take back to their classrooms.

"NCCAT's instructional programming is designed to give teachers the support and resources they need to be highly effective and enhance student learning."

Seminars scheduled the next two months alone in Cullowhee include Leadership, Creativity, and Change: Daring to Lead; Today's Readers, Tomorrow's Leaders: Motivating Students to Read; Dropout Solutions that Work, and Catching Up With Your Students: Navigating Technology for 21st Century.

Despite its obvious benefits to the state's teachers, NCCAT has been under siege since Republicans took control of the General Assembly in 2011. Without warning, the budget adopted in 2011 slashed annual funding from $5.9 million to $3.6 million. Half the staff was laid off and course offerings were reduced.

The budget passed by the state Senate this year would complete the job, shutting down the program, transferring the Cullowhee campus to WCU - with no money to operate it - and transferring the Ocracoke campus to the state. The House budget, however, contains more than $3 million to keep the campuses functioning.

Even if FCCAT is saved, a lot of damage already has been done. The uncertainty has cost the organization grant funding in recent months, said Elaine Franklin, NCCAT executive director.

"It's very damaging to an organization to do this," she said.

This is not the only educational area in which the Senate has been short-sighted. The Senate budget also completes the phase-out of the Teaching Fellows Program, which recruits 500 top high-school graduates each year to become teachers. They can receive scholarships if they commit to teaching for four years in North Carolina.

Again, the House has shown better sense. Its budget reinstates the program so it can begin recruiting new fellows next year to enter the program in 2015.

"The 4,500 graduates who were employed in 99 of North Carolina's 100 counties during the 2012-2013 school year is testament to the staying power of teaching fellows," said Jane Norwood, chair of the Teaching Fellows Commission, upon learning of the House action.

"They came from all over the state. They continue to teach in North Carolina schools and serve as leaders in North Carolina communities from Manteo to Murphy."

In looking at the Senate's attitude toward public education, words fail us. The Senate budget contains $50 million less for education that Gov. Pat McCrory proposed. Salaries are frozen and 4,500 teacher assistant positions are eliminated.

Class sizes would be increased and the pre-kindergarten program would be reduced. Money for textbooks and buses would be slashed. If the Senate's intention is to dismantle public education, this is a large step in that direction.

The House budget has its own problems, notably the use of $50 million over two years for students to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, but it is overall better than the Senate plan.

In particular, House members of the budget conference committee need to stand fast for programs to train the best teachers and to help teachers maintain their skills. "Don't let them take anything away," said Rep. Larry Bell, a Democrat from Clinton.

Good advice.

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Teacher center deserves state funding

The North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching got new life last week. House members must continue their fight to see it remains in the final state budget.